Home Sweet Home
by StandingOnARooftop
Summary: A longtime friend of the Zboys finally moves back to town. How will her relationship with the boys change the outcome of their futures? [Previously titled Welcome Back]
1. Chapter 1

_Jay sat on the floor in the middle of his best friend Maddie's lavender bedroom. He watched as she slowly finished packing her belongings into the big black suitcase that was lying on the floor. They were both silent._

"_I can't believe you're leaving tomorrow." Jay said, breaking the silence._

_Maddie didn't respond. She simply tossed a pair of jeans into the suitcase and zipped it up. She couldn't believe it either. By this time tomorrow she would no longer be in the modest Dogtown that she knew and loved. She'd be in Georgia. In some giant house with her father, step-mother, and step-brother. It was her dad's idea; apparently her grades and behavior weren't exactly up to his expectations. He thought a change of location and companions would fix this. _

_Her mom, Callie, didn't agree, there was really nothing wrong with her daughter at least not in her eyes. Maddie wasn't a bad kid, she was just having fun. She was basically a straight c student, with the occasional d here or there (which was pretty good considering all the times she skipped school). And the only thing wrong with her behavior was that she had come home drunk once or twice. But Callie didn't want to argue with her ex-husband. He had threatened to take her to court so he could have full custody if she didn't agree. Knowing that she and her mom didn't have the money to get a lawyer Maddie reluctantly agreed to live with him._

_Maddie sat on the suitcase across from Jay and just stared at him for a while. She didn't want to leave him. They had been best friends since they were little.. He was there for her when her baby brother died, when her parents got divorced, and when she just felt like crap. She was always there for him too. He often would just show up at Maddie's to get away from everyone else. _

"_What time is it?" Maddie asked Jay._

"_Probably around 9. Why?" He questioned back. _

"_Let's get out of here. I don't leave for another 12 hours, and the guys are expecting us to come to Tony's around now. Now is no the time to sulk. Lets party!" She said trying to sound excited._

_And with that she grabbed her skateboard and her camera and left. Jay followed closely behind. They went and enjoyed her last night in Dogtown just hanging out at Tony's._

_The next morning Maddie woke up at 5. She couldn't sleep. She was nervous, and sad, and upset and unsure. She pulled on her jeans and a grey tee shirt, brushed her long reddish brown hair and went into her kitchen. Her mom, Callie, was sitting at the table drinking coffee. They had figured that Maddie would still be asleep by time her mom left for work so they had said their goodbyes last night. _

_Maddie and her mom weren't particularly close, they weren't best friends or more like sisters then mother and daughter. Maddie's mom was usually working or out drinking or with her latest boyfriend. She wasn't mean or abusive or anything like that. They just hardly saw each other, and neither really minded._

_Even thought they weren't close when Maddie looked at her mom and felt herself tear up. Callie got up from the table and hugged Maddie. She too was crying now. _

"_I'm so sorry." Her mom managed to choke out between her cries._

"_It's not your fault. I'll be back soon enough." Maddie replied._

"_Take care of yourself kid. I'll miss you so much."_

"_I'll miss you too."_

_With that there was a honk of a horn outside. Callie's ride to work had come. She kissed her daughter and with one last goodbye left. Maddie watched her mom drive off and dried her tears. She then grabbed a book and sat on her couch reading until it was time for her to leave. _

_At promptly 8:15 Maddie heard the noise of her friends outside her house. It was time. She walked outside and started saying her goodbyes. She was close with everyone but closest with Jay, Tony, Stacy, and Sid. So they were the ones taking her to the airport. As she hugged everyone else goodbye Tony and Jay loaded her luggage into Stacy's car. _

"_We should probably go now if we want to beat the traffic." Stacy suggested._

_Maddie nodded and climbed in the car between Jay and Sid. She rested her head on Jay's shoulder as they drove off leaving her home and friends behind. _

"_You guys will write to me. Right?" Maddie questioned them as they approached the airport._

"_You're kidding, right?" Tony joked._

"_Of course we will. We're not going to just forget about you once you go." Sid said with a smile, pulling Maddie into a hug._

"_Good." Maddie said._

_They had passed through the airport security and all of that shit. The five of them were now standing near the ticket taker. Maddie's plane was now boarding. This was the hardest part, she had to say goodbye to her favorite people without ever knowing when she would see them again. _

_Stacy grabbed her first and engulfed her in a hug. He kissed the top of her head and looked her in the eyes, _

"_I'll miss you so much. It won't be the same here without you." He said smiling at her._

"_I'll miss you too." She said hugging him tighter._

_Next was Tony. He also hugged her then placed his hands on her shoulders and said, "Just don't let them change you. I'm going to miss you chica." _

_She kissed his cheek and started to cry._

_Sid hugged her also and promised her that if she ever needed him he would be on the next flight to Georgia. She smiled at her friend and hugged him again, crying into his shoulder. She felt him stroking her hair as if to say everything will be ok._

_As more and more people boarded the plane she realized it was time for her to part with her best friend. As she approached Jay more tears poured down her face. _

"_Don't forget me." Jay said right as Maddie walked up to him._

"_I could never do that. You helped make me who I am, as lame as that sounds." She said with a laugh._

"_I'm gonna write you a lot. And call you whenever I can." He promised her._

"_I'll be back as soon as I can get my dad to let me go. And if he never lets me go I'll be back when I'm 18. He can't tell me what to do then. And it's not the far away. I mean I'm almost 16 now." Maddie started to ramble. _

"_I love you and I am going to miss you so goddamn much."_

_With those words Jay pulled her up against him in a heartfelt hug. The didn't let go of each other until Tony came over and reminded them that she had to get on the plane. _

_Maddie unenthusiastically walked onto the plane with tears streaming down her face. She turned around and looked back at her friends giving them a sad wave. Then continued on her way, not knowing when she'd see any of them again._

It had been over a year of hell for Maddie at her dad's house but she was now returning to Dogtown. She couldn't believe it and she wondered how much things had changed.

**Authors Note**- so that's the beginning of my story. It's just kind of a general introduction, nothing really happening. I'll add more soon. I know that there are a lot of original character stories, but I really wanted to write this one. However, I don't think that I'll have Maddie end up with any of the main characters because that's been done a lot, not that those stories are bad. They're not. Actually, I'm not even really sure what will happen in this story yet. So uh, review please?

Oh yea, the italics are meant to show that that happened in the past or was a flashback. Just in this chapter the whole chapter was basically a flashback. Yup.


	2. A Look Into The Past

**Chapter Two: A look into the past**

_An eight year old Maddie Anderson sat in her room, huddled in the corner while clutching her stuffed giraffe. Downstairs the screams of her parents could be heard. They were fighting, yet again. Her parents were very different from one another, they fought often but Maddie was convinced that they still loved each other._

_Well she was convinced of this until recently. Her little brother Brian was very sick and in and out of the hospital regularly. The stress of having such a sick child and having careers and excessive bills was too much for her parents to deal with. They decided to separate. _

_Maddie chose to go live with her mom. She was leaving her comfortable home in the Valley for a smaller simpler home on the "wrong side of the tracks". Her new home would be just down the street from Jay's house. His mom Philaine, who had been friends with Maddie's mom since high school, had pointed it out to them. _

_Jay and Maddie were stuck together whenever their moms got together. They weren't instantly friends, they just kind of tolerated each other. They would play dumb kid games to pass the time but never went out of their way to do stuff together. They were just different. Jay was hyper and outspoken and lived for surfing. Maddie was more reserved and random and lived for drawing. Yea, they were only eight but they knew what they liked. _

_Maddie's parents had finished fighting, she could tell because of the loud slam of the door and the screeching tires of her dad's car. And then the shouting of her mother, "Just four more days of this. FOUR MORE DAYS AND I'M OUT OF THIS HELLHOLE!"_

_Maddie stood up and slowly started packing more boxes, what she had been doing before her parents started screaming. Her mom decided that moving their belongings over to their new house slowly by using her car would be easier and cheaper then renting a moving van. So starting yesterday they'd load up the car and bring several boxes to their new house. Then Callie and Philaine would drink coffee and complain about men while Maddie and Jay played checkers or something equally dumb. They had four more days of this to endure. _

_Maddie's quiet packing was interrupted suddenly by the ringing of the telephone followed by the loud sobbing of her mother. Maddie ran down the stairs to make sure her mom was alright. Callie was now sitting on the floor hugging her knees close to her and bawling harder then Maddie had ever seen before. She attempted to comfort her mother by patting her back._

_Callie just noticed that her daughter was there. She tried to stifle her tears, and turned to her daughter. "Honey," she started,"that was the hospital. They tried everything that they could do but… they just couldn't do anything anymore. Brian's…gone to a better place."_

_Maddie dropped to the floor next to her mom. While her mom was bawling quit loudly, Maddie just sat there in shock. Her three year old brother was dead. She'd never see him again. It wasn't fair; he didn't even get to live life. She ran up to her bedroom and curled up on her bed forcing herself to go to sleep so that she wouldn't have to think about his death anymore. _

_She slept for hours, and awoke the next morning at 10 am. She had fallen asleep in her clothes from yesterday and didn't feel like changing them. Heading over to her desk she heard voices downstairs, figuring that they were only her mom and the maid she decided to ignore them. She sat down at her desk determined to draw something, but there was nothing to draw. Frustrated at her lack of creativity, Maddie put her head down on her desk and closed her eyes when she suddenly heard her door open and close. She remained immobile she didn't feel like talking to her mom._

"_Hey, are you ok?"_

_It wasn't her mom that entered the room. With that Maddie looked up, only to see Jay hovering in her doorway. She stood up and went to go sit on her bed. He watched her the whole time, then followed her and sat down next to her._

"_I'm sorry about your brother." Jay said sounding sympathetic. Well as sympathetic as an eight year old could sound._

"_Thanks." Maddie managed to choke out and proceeded to lie on her bed. Jay copied her lying down also. And they stayed that way. Neither of them talked neither knew what to say. But it wasn't a bored or awkward silence between them; it was just a pleasant and necessary silence. How long they stayed like that they didn't know. But they were abruptly brought out of this silent reverie when Maddie's mom beckoned for them. _

_With a sigh Maddie and Jay got up and went downstairs. This call for them usually meant that it was time for Jay to leave. When they got to the living room Maddie noticed that her mom looked slightly more put together then she had last night. She figured that a talk with her best friend was what she really needed. _

"_Maddie, honey, Philaine was wondering if you'd maybe like to go back to her house and play with Jay today." Callie told her daughter. _

_This invitation came as no surprise to Maddie, after many of Philaine and Callie's get togethers they'd invite each other's kids over. It was basically an attempt to make Jay and Maddie better friends. Normally Maddie would decline, after all she and Jay always had declined, they weren't great friends and neither tried to change it. But today Maddie felt different. She didn't want to just sit around her house thinking about her brother._

"_Uh, yea. That sounds fun." Maddie replied. Her response shocked everyone, especially Jay._

"_Awesome." Jay said with a smirk, "I can teach you how to skateboard!" Skateboarding was Jay's latest obsession. He had said that finding a good wave is hard, but there will always be concrete to skate. _

_So Maddie went, and the rest is history. What started as one or two play dates to get Maddie's mind off the death turned into a budding friendship between Jay and Maddie. They'd make lame excuses to hide the fact that they actually wanted to hang out. And when Maddie moved in to her new house it only presented more opportunities for them to skate and play superheroes and watch the Brady Bunch with the volume turned off while making up a new dialogue. Next thing they knew, they were at each others house everyday. They were best friends, and nothing could change it._

**Author's note**: ok, another flashback chapter. Sorry. I want to kind of set up a foundation for their friendship. Not just have this random girl with no past. I'll try to update as often as I can.

Next chapter….Maddie comes back! And you'll get to know her character better and see how she interacts with everyone else.


	3. Tacos and dead cats

**Chapter three **

**Authors note.** Sorry, no flashback in this chapter. I wanted to start every chapter with a brief flashback but due to the lengthy flashbacks in chapters 1 and 2 there won't be one in this chapter.Now on with the story.

Jay eagerly raced forward on his skateboard towards his home. Today was the day, Maddie was coming home. She had called him two nights ago bubbling with joy as she gave him the good news. Thursday morning she'd be back, her plane landed at 10 so she should be home by 10:30. Well today was finally Thursday and Jay couldn't wait until 10:30.

Stacy, Sid, Biniak, Peggy, Wentzle Shogo and Red dog trailed behind Jay. None of them knew why he was so excited and way more hyped up then usual. Jay hadn't told anyone that Maddie was coming back; instead he said that they all had to come over because he had a "surprise". No one knew what to expect. Jay was nearly half a block ahead of them; he wanted to be there the second that Maddie arrived. He didn't notice the lengthy distance between he and his friends. As they followed behind they tried to brainstorm what would get Jay this excited.

"Maybe it's a new spot to skate?" Peggy suggested

"A hot naked lady?" Biniak said hopefully. Everyone turned to him like he was an idiot.

"Weed! It's gotta be weed!" Wentzle stated before anyone could comment on Biniak's guess.

"It'd have to be quite a lot of weed to get him this excited." Stacy pointed out.

"A dead cat." This was Biniak's next thought. Red dog shoved him off his skateboard.

"You are a moron." He exclaimed. And with that everyone stopped guessing and continued skating in the direction of Jay's house. By the time that they had gotten there Jay was already sitting on the railing on the steps outside of his house swinging his legs impatiently.

"Stacy, what time is?" he yelled as everyone took seats on the stairs near him.

"10:27. Why? And where's the surprise?" Stacy replied.

"You'll see, it's coming." Jay couldn't stop grinning as he said this and kept staring down the street at Maddie's house waiting for the taxi to pull up. Everyone else was sitting on the steps impatiently except for Peggy and Wentzle who where skating around near the steps. Everyone thought that there was something going on between them, but they denied it. Idiots. It was obvious that they liked each other.

All of a sudden Jay saw the taxi pull up in front of Maddie's house. He flung himself off the railing knocking Peggy over in the process and darted towards it. Maddie got out of the taxi and handed some money to the driver. As the driver started unloading her luggage she turned and saw Jay running at her.

"Jayboy!" She screamed and started running at him.

"Maddieee!"

Maddie ran to Jay and jumped up into him, wrapping her legs around his waist and hugging him close. Jay wrapped his arms tightly around her too. This served two reasons; number one to help keep her up so she wouldn't fall to the pavement and number two because it had been a over year since he last got to hug her.

"Hi." She said putting her forehead against his. "I missed you so much."

"Don't ever leave me again." Jay said while staring into her eyes.

"Never." Tears started to form in her eyes.

"Are you crying? This isn't the sad part, you're back now."

"Shut up." Maddie responded with a grin as Jay wiped the tears from her eyes and put her down. They finally noticed that everyone who had been at Jay's had come over and was watching their reunion. Suddenly Maddie felt kind of nervous and awkward. She was surrounded by people that she hadn't seen or spoken to in forever, ok it was only a year but it felt like forever. With Jay it was different, they were best friends and had kept in touch the whole time Maddie was gone. But she hadn't communicated at all with anyone else who was now staring at her. "Uh, hey." She said nervously to the crowd around her.

An equally awkward 'Welcome back' and 'We missed you' echoed her uncomfortable hello. The truth was everyone else felt just as uncomfortable as she had. It's not like they were so stricken with her newfound beauty that they couldn't speak. No, Maddie looked the same, aside from the fact that her long hair had been cut to just below her shoulder and her green eyes were now outlined in black eyeliner. And it certainly wasn't because they didn't like her and weren't glad to have her back. It was that they just weren't expecting her and they didn't know how to respond.

The awkward silence over took the crowd again. Maddie didn't know what to say without sounding like an idiot so she looked to Jay for help.

"Why don't we bring Maddie's stuff inside then go to Zephyr, Tony should be there by now." Jay suggested. Everyone mumbled in agreement and either grabbed one of Maddie's bags or just followed them inside of her house. Maddie led the way up to her bedroom. She was so happy to be back in her own room, everything was exactly how she left it. With a running leap she threw herself onto her bed and lay on her stomach. "I missed you bed." She said squeezing her pillow.

"Maddie, no one wants to see you make out with your pillow. Grab your board and let's go." Jay said as he put her suitcase on the floor.

"Shut up jerkface. I've missed this bed so much, if I want to make out with my pillow everyone can wait." Maddie joked. She sat up on her bed and looked at everyone. "And I'm not skateboarding to Zephyr. I can just walk. I haven't ridden in a year and I don't want to make an ass of myself in front of Dogtown's greatest skaters." She said this last part with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Hey, no one cares if you suck. We're not going to make fun of you or anything." This was the first time Sid had spoken to her since she arrived. "Pleaseeee, you can skate with me, we'll go slow." Sid continued to persuade her.

"Plus Stacy will buy you lunch. No, he'll buy everyone lunch." Jay interjected.

"Yea!" everyone, besides Stacy, Jay and Maddie, exclaimed in unison.

"Dude, I'm not making Stacy buy everyone food." Maddie said as she rose from her bed and started searching through her closet.

"Finally, someone with sense. Unlike you idiots who think that just because I have a job I can buy you stuff all of the time." Stacy smiled at Maddie, "I'm glad you're back."

"Me too." She replied as she pulled a blue and white skateboard out of her closet. "Ok, I'll skateboard, but you can't make fun of me if I fall. And someone owes me a beer for this. Let's go!" Everyone followed Maddie out of her house and skated off. She started feeling more comfortable around them. Well at least around Stacy and Sid now, but she figured in time everything would go back to the way it was before she left.

The herd of teens continued to skate in the direction of Zephyr. Jay, Shogo, and Biniak were at the front battling it out for the lead. Peggy and Wentzle followed behind them, they were laughing and flirting and didn't seem to notice or care that everyone else was there. Next was Red Dog and Stacy, this surprised Maddie. They used to not get along at all but Maddie figured that they must have matured while she was gone, Red dog mostly. Then, bringing up the rear was Maddie and Sid. Sid was filling Maddie in on what she had missed here while she was gone and Maddie was just concentrating on not falling.

But it didn't work. She hit a few rocks and her wheels instantly locked up sending her flying right into Red Dog. Next thing she new she had knocked Red off of his skateboard and landed on top of him. "Shit. I'm sorry." Maddie apologized, got up, and then offered him a hand. He took her hand and stood up.

"It's not your fault," He replied, "and it's not like I've never hurt you skating."

"Oh yea, you made me bleed. And scar up." Maddie and Red Dog were skating side by side now. "All I did was knock you over, and this wasn't my fault it was the rock's. When you hit me it was your entire fault."

Maddie and Red Dog were referring to a day two years ago when they were skating. Well, the guys were skating, Maddie was taking pictures. Red dog had noticed some girls coming over to watch them, after impressing them with his moves he tossed his skateboard aside to go talk to them. The tossing of his skateboard was more like chuck and it smacked right into Maddie's head and scrapped across it. The next thing she knew she was gushing blood.

"How long are you gonna keep using that against me?" Red Dog asked.

"Until the scar disappears, after that no one would believe me. I mean, you'd have to be pretty stupid to throw a skateboard at your friend." Maddie joked while lifting up her long bangs to show the scar she was referring to.

"Maddie, you have to stop now." Red Dog said while getting off his board.

"Why, I was just getting the hang of this again?"

"We're here moron." Red dog picked up his board and entered Zephyr. Maddie followed him in.

She scanned around the shop and the first thing she saw was a mop of frizzy hair. It was Tony and he was doing what he did best, flirting and trying to pick up girls. Maddie could tell from a distance by the way that they were standing and their incessant giggling. She knew that things between her and him wouldn't be as awkward as it was between her and some of the others. Tony was good at talking and making someone feel comfortable, which is probably why he got so many girls. She took this as her opportunity; he was distracted so she ran up behind him and jumped on his back. He was startled, but held on to her legs in order to keep her up. Because she was on his back he couldn't who she was, so she decided to have some fun.

"You sleep with me, you tell me that you love me and then I see you throwing yourself at other girls." Maddie screeched. The girls that Tony was talking to threw him a disgusted look, called him a pig and left. Tony still didn't know who was on his back. Jay rushed over to see what all the commotion was, seeing that it was only Maddie he laughed and watched his best friend piss off Tony.

"I don't know you, you psycho." Tony said as he dropped Maddie off of his back. She landed on her butt on the floor and looked up at Tony grinning. Tony turned around to get a good look at who had ruined his chances of picking up those girls.

"Maddie!"

"You know, if some crazy is on your back you really shouldn't call them psycho. It's upsetting." Maddie stated as Tony helped her up and pulled her into a hug.

"That's good advice. Now let's take a look at you, see if you got any fatter." Tony joked as Maddie stood up straight as if she was in the military being inspected. Anyone else would have been insulted by this comment, but Maddie didn't care. Tony would always make fun of the fact that she could eat anything and everything yet never gain a pound. Maddie turned to her side and tried to stick out her stomach. "Nope, you still disappear when you turn sideways." Jay and Tony both laughed at this.

"Ha ha." She said sarcastically, "I challenge you to an eating contest." She said pointing one of her pointer fingers in Tony's face and the other in Jay's.

"Well I accept, fatty." Tony said as he stuck his finger in Maddie's face.

"Yea, me too." Jay said , "Name the food Maddie."

"Tacos!" Maddie exclaimed realizing that Jay and Tony had said it along with her. Maddie frowned, they knew her too well.

"Am I that predictable?" She questioned. Everyone in the shop nodded in reply. "Eh, oh well. Let's go!" Everyone left the shop to go get tacos and to watch Tony, Jay and Maddie compete. They started making bets on who would be the champion.

Next chapter--Maddie and her mom, more Maddie and Jay, Zephyr skate team is formed and maybe I'll talk about the taco eating contest.


	4. Part two of Day one

Chapter Four.

"Twelve tacos." Peggy said with amazement, "How can a skinny little twig like you eat twelve tacos and not explode?"

Maddie shrugged her shoulders in response and she and the gang left Paco's Taco Hut. The taco takedown (a/n Yes, I stole this from xHappyHardcorex) had just ended and Maddie was the champion. She had beaten both the boys who had only managed to eat ten tacos each.

"I'll beat you next time, you just got lucky." Tony exclaimed.

"Tony, I think you just need to accept the fact that I'm better then you." Maddie replied with a smirk. Tony rolled his eyes and lightly shoved her.

"So what do you want to do now?" Stacy asked.

"Actually, I've got to go home. My mom should be home any minute and we need to 'bond' or something." Maddie said and then turned to Jay, "Walk me home?"

Jay nodded in response and draped his arm over her shoulders. "We'll catch up with you guys later." He told everyone while Maddie waved goodbye. The two of them continued down the street, skateboards in their hands. Maddie missed this; she missed just being with Jay.

"I have something to confess." She said looking up to him as they walked, Jays arm still wrapped around her shoulders. "I didn't exactly tell you everything when I said I was coming back."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked raising his eyebrows.

"Well, the only way that I can stay here is if I actually go to school and have a B average." She responded with a sigh.

"That's it? God, Maddie you scared me. I don't care if you go to school, I mean sure it wastes like six hours that we could spend together but I'll get over it. It's better then you being in Georgia."

Maddie grinned, "Yea, but I've decided that you're coming with me. That's the real confession that _you_ now have to go to school."

"Uh, well maybe I'll go a few times, for you."

"Thanks. What do you want to do when you grow up? Like _really_, now that we actually have an understanding of what we can do. And it's not all 'I'm gonna be an astronaut' or 'I'm gonna be a cowgirl' anymore. " Maddie asked Jay, now going off on a tangent.

"I really don't know. My dream job would be for someone just to pay me for nothing, just hand me money. But seeing as that won't happen. I'll probably just find some crap job. Work during the day and then skate, surf, drink and screw when I'm not working. What about you?"

"What if you could get paid for skating?" Maddie asked while ignoring his question.

"I dunno, I don't think that I would like it. I don't want someone telling me what to do. I don't want skating to turn into having to do what's expected of me." Maddie nodded with understanding. "Now, what do you want to do?"

"Well my dream job would be to be an artist. Just paint and draw and have people love it and pay me. But most artists really don't get famous until they die so I wouldn't really have any money. And unlike you I don't want some crap job."

"What about writing? You rock at that."

"I think that I do want to write stories or articles. Books would be better because then I could illustrate them. But I'd have to go to college in order to really do well at that, and I don't know if I can even get into or go to college."

"You can do it; you just have to want it bad enough to do everything that you can do to make it happen."

The duo continued walking towards their homes while engaged in the conversation about their futures. As they approached Maddie's house they saw Callie and Philaine sitting on her porch drinking and talking.

"Mommy!" Maddie shouted and ran up the steps to her mother. Callie grabbed her daughter and pulled her into a hug. She then proceeded to kiss her forehead over and over.

"Mommy!" Jay mimicked Maddie in a high pitched voice and ran over to his own mom. Maddie glared at him and gave him the finger.

"Isn't it nice that our kids are such great friends?" Philaine asked with a laugh. Callie decided that this would be a four person reunion rather than just her and Maddie, so she invited Jay and Philaine to stay for dinner. Maddie hadn't realized how much time had passed since she had arrived this morning. It was now six o'clock at night.

"How about we order a pizza" Callie suggested.

"Yes yes yes, I'm starving." Maddie replied

Jay looked over at her, "You just at twelve tacos and now you're starving? Maddie, my dear, you are a freak."

"I think my eating habits are perfectly normal." Callie and Philaine laughed at this. They ordered a pizza and continued on conversing about Maddie's life in Georgia and what she had missed here. Pizza came. They ate. And just like in the past, Maddie and Jay wound up in Maddie's room while Callie and Philaine drank and laughed and did whatever it was that parents did.

Jay plopped down on Maddie's bed and looked around her room. Several of her paintings, drawings and photographs covered the lavender walls. "You know, you haven't drawn me anything in forever. I'm starting to feel neglected." He said as Maddie sat down at her desk. She opened the drawer and pulled out a large pad of drawing paper and a tray of chalk. She then proceeded to put her hair up in a crazy messy bun on the top of her head. Jay had always called this her 'artist hair', because she'd do it like this whenever she'd draw just to keep it out of her face.

"Ok then, pose. I'm going to draw you." Jay struck an elaborate model pose. "Jay seriously, do you think that you can hold that pose they whole time that it'll take to draw you?" Jay nodded and continued to pose. Maddie laughed and started to draw.

"So, how is it being back?" Jay asked, still posing like an idiot.

"Honestly, it's a little weird."

"How so?" Jay was starting to loose his balance and was wobbling around.

"I don't know, I guess I expected it to be like I had never left. You know, like still be great friends with everyone and not have this like awkwardness between them and me."

"Maddie, it's your first day back. We haven't seen you in over a year. Things are going to be weird at first. But you've always got me." Jay said with a grin and started fluttering his eyelids.

"Lucky me." She replied sarcastically. Jay threw a pillow at her, and she responded by throwing a piece of chalk at him. "Well at least things are normal between my mom and me. We talk for a whole thirty minutes then run out of things to say."

"That's how most parents are with their kids. Don't worry about it, everything will get easier." Jay said.

"Wow Jay, when did you get so wise?" Maddie questioned with a laugh. She picked up a piece of chalk and scribbled her initials in the corner of the drawing. "Tada, it's done." She displayed the picture for Jay.

Jay finally stopped posing and looked at the picture. He scrunched up his face and squinted at it. "Darling, you need a new hobby. That looks nothing like me."

"It's called cubism, asshole. And I think it looks just like you." Maddie explained, while gently tearing the paper off the pad and handing it to Jay.

"Oh, well then it's lovely. I'm going to hang this in my room forever." He grinned. "Now, why don't we get out of here?"

"Okie doke." Maddie agreed and grabbed a sweater out of the nearest suitcase. She followed Jay out of her bedroom and then out of her house. Their mothers, who were slightly drunk in Maddie's kitchen, didn't notice the departure of their children. They were heading to Shogo's house. His father had walked out on his family and his mother was a nurse who worked the night shift, so no one was at his house at night. That's usually where the Zboys would end up at the end of the day.

No one was outside of Shogo's house, so Jay opened the door and invited himself in. "They're probably downstairs." He said knowingly. Maddie nodded and followed him through the house and down to the basement. They were greeted with an overwhelming fog of smoke and the blaring music of Jimi Hendrix.

Everyone was sitting on couches, chairs, or the floor and involved in their own little conversations. There were three girls, two blondes and a brunette, that Maddie didn't recognize sitting in the corner with Tony and Red Dog.

"We have arrived!" Jay yelled with flourish so everyone was now looking at him and Maddie. They were greeted with a loud 'hello' from the group before everyone continued with what they were doing.

"Oh yea," Biniak interrupted and started gesturing towards the girls in the corner, "Those are my cousins, the blonde ones, Brianna and Heather and the other one is my neighbor Lizzy. Brianna, Heather and Lizzy, meet Jay and Maddie." Well that explains the unknown girls, Maddie thought while waving hello.

Jay started heading over to the girls and Maddie followed, not knowing where else to go. She didn't want to interrupt or bother anyone else. She sat down next to Red Dog who immediately handed her a beer.

"Thanks." She said while popping off the top.

"Well we owed it to you, for skating to Zephyr earlier." Red Dog explained. Maddie laughed and took a swig from the bottle. Next thing she knew Tony was leading the two blondes upstairs.

"God, he works fast." Maddie said motioning to Tony.

"Yea, Biniak won't be happy that Tony's screwing his cousins, but what did he expect when he brought them over here." Red Dog said. Sid and Stacy came over and took the seats that Tony and the girls had just left and joined Red Dog and Maddie's conversation. Jay and Lizzy had just left to "get some fresh air" so that left Maddie and the boys alone. After her long day, Maddie was extremely tired and had soon fallen asleep on Sid's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, and she slept on him for about an hour. It was then that Jay and Lizzy had come back down to the basement. He left Lizzy and went over to Maddie, gently shaking her so that she would wake up.

"I hate you," she muttered when she opened her eyes, "I was having a really good dream, a REALLY good one."

"Well I think it's time that we go home." He said lifting her off of the couch. Lizzy stood in the corner glaring at them. Jay didn't care, they said a quick goodbye to everyone then left Shogo's house. As they were leaving they saw Tony emerge from the bedroom.

"Dude, I just nailed both of Biniak's cousins, at the same time." Tony exclaimed grinning ear to ear. Jay slapped him a high five. Maddie rolled her eyes, and then adopted a motherly voice, "that's my boy," she said while pinching his cheeks. And with that Jay and Maddie left and headed home.

**Author's Note.** Wow, lots of dialogue. Sorry it's taken so long to update, i've been very busy with summer school and friends and stuff. I've started planning this story out in my head and i think i know where it's going. I just have to choose one of two plots that i've come up with. Also, i''m sorry, i lied in the previous chapter. The skate team wasn't formed in this chapter. Maybe the next one or the one after that. I'm working on it. Review! Please and thank you.


	5. Wheeeeeeeeeeels

Chapter 5

Maddie had been up for an hour already. She had taken a shower and gotten dressed in her ripped jeans and a white tee shirt with bright blue stripes. She had pulled her hair up into her artist hair. It was nearly noon and she was sitting at her kitchen table sketching out the outline for her latest painting, a landscape of the pier and beach. The canvas she was working on was about as big as the table. As she sketched out the outline of the broken Ferris wheel, there was a loud knock on her door.

"Come in, unless you're planning on raping, robbing, or murdering me!" She yelled, still engrossed in her drawing.

"Does that really seem like an effective method of security?" She heard Stacy's voice ask as he and Jay wandered into her kitchen, both of their hair wet as if they had just come from surfing.

"Yes, see you came in because you _weren't_ going to rape, rob or murder me. It's perfectly effective. Now, what are you two doing here?" Maddie asked pointing at the two boys.

"We're here to fetch you. Now let's go, Tony's waiting outside in the car. We've got to go." Stacy explained while Jay had helped himself to a cup of coffee and was now dumping a bunch of sugar in it.

"You left Tony alone in your car? Why would you do that? And where's Sid?" Maddie questioned while still drawing.

"Maddie, you ask too many questions. We're meeting Sid at Zephyr. Now get your ass in the car." Jay demanded. He had already polished off her coffee and was now pulling her out of her chair. "Grab her board." Jay said to Stacy while gesturing to her skateboard that was leaning against the front door.

"I need shoes." She yelled as Jay had already pulled her out the front door. Stacy grabbed her black converse shoes and followed them out. Tony was rocking out in the passenger's seat blaring some angry band's music.

"Nice hair." Tony said as Maddie realized that she still had her artist hair up. She took down her hair and shook it out before pulling her hair up in a ponytail leaving her long angled bangs hanging in her face

Jay and Maddie climbed in the back seat as Stacy turned off the music and pulled away from Maddie's house. They headed for Zephyr while Stacy and Tony argued about what music to listen to, changing stations every five seconds. In the back of the car Maddie and Jay, the most immature of everyone in the car and probably everyone in Dogtown, had started this sort of poking war with each other. Tony and Stacy had chosen to ignore their very strange friends because no matter what they said they knew that they couldn't stop Jay and Maddie. She had only been back for a day but with Jay it was like she had never left. They had pulled up to Zephyr just as the poking war was ending; Maddie was laying down on the backseat as Jay, who was straddled over her, was poking her stomach over and over. Soon the poking turned to tickling and Maddie was forced to give up. Between fits of laughter she managed to state that she gave up and Jay won.

They calmly exited the car as if nothing had happened, and Maddie jumped onto Jay's back so that he would give her a piggy-back ride into Zephyr. When they finally got in, they saw everyone surrounding Sid as he held up two skateboard wheels. Maddie heard him say something about urethane and gripping and turning, all the skaters around her seemed amazed. But she really didn't know what was going on. Maddie wasn't really a skater. Sure, she had a board and Jay had started teaching her when she was eight, but she spent a lot of time just watching everyone else. It was mesmerizing watching them try over and over to nail tricks that were seen as impossible before the day began. Maddie wasn't bad at skating or anything, but she was more for racing down hills then attempting tricks. Skateboarding was a way of transportation for Maddie, not a way of life like it was for everyone else.

Maddie was still perched on Jay's back and too busy looking around the shop to notice what anyone else was talking about. Next thing she new everyone was grabbing their boards and skating out. Jay tried to drop Maddie off of his back but she wouldn't loosen her grip on him. "Dude, get off of me. I want to try those wheels out."

"What's so special about them?" She asked. Jay was still trying to shake Maddie off of his back while walking to Stacy's car to get their boards. Maddie finally gave up and dropped off his back.

"They grip and turn. They're made from oil or some shit." Jay explained as the two of them furiously tried to catch up with the other that had left ahead of them. They arrived at a schoolyard just as everyone was climbing over the fence. Jay and Maddie followed their lead. Tony had grabbed the board and started skating throughout the schoolyard as Maddie watched him in amazement. Jay had abandoned her to go and get his turn trying out the new wheels and Maddie continued to stare at them, she had missed this.

She sat down on the concrete hill as Jay skated past and around her. Jay leapt off the board letting it roll over to Peggy for her turn. "Wow, you're even better then I remember." Maddie complimented Jay as he sat next to her.

"Yea, sometimes it's hard being the best." Jay bragged. While rolling her eyes she shoved him. "No seriously, I have to tone it down a bit so no one gets too jealous and I have to deal with everyone admiring me and….holy shit." Jay had suddenly been distracted by the girls who had just arrived including one Kathy Alva.

Maddie groaned inwardly. She and Kathy didn't get along. Ever since Junior high when Kathy accused Maddie of starting a rumor about her. It ended in a fight that Tony and Jay had to break apart. From that day on they never liked each other and generally just avoided one another.

Jay stood up to go over to Tony and Stacy, who had also noticed the girls' arrival. Maddie stayed where she was and watched from a distance. She watched them talk while still far from each other before Jay knocked Peggy off the board so he could show off his skill. It didn't seem to be working; Kathy was now getting close to Stacy rather then swooning over Jay. Maddie could tell that Jay was defeated; he was lying on the concrete with his hat tipped over his eyes so that he could discreetly watch them. Maddie plopped down next to him.

"So, how long have you been in love with Kathy?" She asked as she lay next to him.

"If by 'in love with' you mean 'want to sleep with' then about four minutes."

"Bullshit. You can't fool me darling, I know you better then I know myself and better then you know yourself. You actually like her. Like, like her like her. Jay and Kathy sitting in a tree, A-B-C-D-E-F-G."

"What are you rambling about now?"

"The future Mrs. Jay Adams, Kathy Alva. Skank queen of the universe." Maddie stopped herself. "I mean, all around sweet girl. Who is so not worthy of my bestest friend's devotion."

"Maddie, shut up. I don't like her like that."

"Uh, yea you do."

"Fuck no."

"Tell the truth, it's good for your soul."

"Ok, so maybe I like her a little. I mean she is hot. But she's all over Stacy."

"Like butter on toast." Maddie added as Jay gave her his you're-a-freak face. "Sorry. Stacy's not her type, and if she's got any brains at all she'll give you a chance. If not fuck her, not like 'bang her' fuck her, but forget about her. And now I sound like an after school special except for all of the fucks, so uh… don't do drugs and stay in school then you will be really cool." Maddie ended her spiel with a thumbs up.

"Thanks dork." Jay said with a smirk. This was why he loved Maddie so much; she was weird, random and could always make him feel better. They always had a great time together because they were both spazzy and entertaining.

"Don't mention it. It's my job." Maddie then stood up and grabbed Tony's board so she could try out the urethane wheels. They were great, never had she skated so well before. She could turn better and without falling and she was going faster then usual. These would certainly affect the future of skating.

**Authors Note**

Ok, it's short. Like half of what I wanted the chapter to be but I felt bad about not updating so I'm giving it to you now rather then having you wait.Review please.


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